Pilot release 0.1.0 · Invitation-only

A local map of your codebase, for your coding agent.

Beacon parses, indexes, and embeds your checkout on your own machine, then answers your agent's questions about it over a local MCP server. Source, embeddings, and file paths never leave your machine — only bounded graph metadata syncs to the hosted service for ranking and context selection.

Download Beacon Quick start

your-repo — beacon

$ beacon init
Indexed 1,842 files · synced · ready
Beacon MCP: run beacon serve …

agent› context_search("rate limiter for token refresh")
→ src/auth/session.py:212-248  refresh()
→ src/api/limits.py:88-114      RateLimiter

Illustrative example output.

Built for private, agent-native context

Everything sensitive stays on your machine; the hosted service only ever sees bounded, allowlisted graph metadata.

Local-first privacy

Source bodies, embedding vectors, and absolute paths never leave your machine. Only symbols, relationships, and hashes sync.

Graph-aware ranking

The hosted service performs private graph traversal and ranking over your synced metadata to select the most relevant context.

MCP-native

A local stdio MCP server exposes context_repository_map, context_search, and context_expand to any MCP client.

Invite-only access

The hosted service is invitation-only during the pilot, with per-installation login and revocable credentials.

How it works

Three steps, split cleanly between what stays local and what's authorized to sync.

Local index

Beacon parses your checkout, builds a graph, and embeds it for local semantic search — entirely on your machine.

Graph metadata sync

Only allowlisted, versioned graph metadata — symbols, relative paths, ranges, and hashes — syncs to the hosted service.

Ranked read plan

The hosted service returns bounded locators and relationships; your agent reads the live, local source itself.

Download

The recommended path is the install script; manual archives with checksums and signatures are below it.

install

$ curl -fsSL https://beacon.shopsxp.com/install.sh | sh

Downloads, verifies (checksum + release signature), extracts, and links beacon onto your PATH.

Verify your download

Every release is published with a SHA-256 checksum alongside it. Verify the file you downloaded matches before you run it:

shasum -a 256 <file>   # macOS
sha256sum <file>   # Linux

Manual download

macOS (Apple Silicon)

Coming soon.

Linux (x86_64)

Coming soon.

Linux (ARM64)

Coming soon.

Windows (x86_64)

Coming soon — needs a Windows build machine.

Quick start

Install
Run the install script above, or extract a manual download from the Download section onto your PATH (macOS: also clear the quarantine flag with xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine <dir>).
Set up the local model
Download and verify the local embedding model (about 550 MB, checked against a trusted manifest before it is used):
```
beacon setup
```

A browser window, or headless over SSH:

beacon login
# or, over SSH / without a local browser:
beacon login --device

Initialize your checkout
No parameters — each checkout gets its own private hosted workspace:
```
cd your-repo
beacon init
```

MCP setup

An initialized checkout exposes a local stdio MCP server. Point your agent at the beacon serve command run from inside that checkout — for example, with Claude Code:

claude mcp add beacon -- beacon serve

Available tools: context_repository_map, context_search, and context_expand.

Security & access

What leaves your machine, what doesn't, and who can use this.

What does Beacon upload?

Only allowlisted, versioned graph metadata: symbols, relative paths, ranges, hashes, and extractor/schema versions. Uploads are scoped to one graph generation and validated before publication.

What never leaves my machine?

Source bodies, embedding vectors, absolute local paths, and credentials. Local indexing, embeddings, and semantic seed search all run on your device.

What does the hosted service return?

Bounded locators, relationships, and merged read plans — never full graph downloads, source bodies, or internal graph identifiers. Your agent reads the live local file to get the actual content.

Who can access Beacon right now?

Access is invitation-only during the pilot. Each user gets an individual login, and each installation has its own revocable credential session.

Are these binaries signed?

See the verification guidance in the Download section above for the current status of this release, and always check the published SHA-256 checksum before running a downloaded file.